Winifred Phillips
Winifred Phillips is an American music composer and author. Her music composition credits include God of War, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation, and the Little Big Planet series. Phillips works with music producer Winnie Waldron. Early life Phillips' love of music began in childhood, supported by her experiences in the public school system. “I had so many wonderful music teachers. I definitely looked up to them," Phillips shared in an interview on GameSpot, "and I'd count the minutes until my next music class would begin. In middle school, my band teacher found out that I was a quick learner and got into the habit of giving me a new instrument to learn whenever there was a gap in one of his ensembles. I got to play all sorts of music and all different kinds of instruments.”"From God of War to Assassin's Creed: The Musical Journey of Winifred Phillips" GameSpot.com. Accessed December 16, 2016. Phillips had been an avid gamer in her childhood. "I’ve always loved video games, ever since I was a kid. I’d played everything from shooters and side-scrollers to sprawling RPGs," Phillips said in an interview with NZGamer. "It didn’t occur to me right away that I could compose music for games – that happened after I’d been working in radio for a while.""RPGFan Feature - Music of the Year 2014 - Winifred Phillips Interview" RPGFan.com. Accessed December 16, 2016. Career Early career From 1992 to 2003, Phillips was the composer, producer and actress in a series of radio dramas, first presented on National Public Radio Playhouse under the title Generations Radio Theater Presents,"NPR Playhouse - January - March, 2001" MNinter.net. Accessed March 21, 2008. and then later as Generations Radio Theater Presents: Radio Tales.National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Program Guide, Spring 2001". NPR Marketing, Vol. VII, No. II This anthology series adapted classic works of American and world literature, and was a recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition, Fall 1998". NPR Marketing, Vol. IV, No. III The series was described by National Public Radio as "featuring a top-to-bottom music score that is completely original and fully integrated to the text"."NPR Playhouse Catalog Information Supplied by NPR Cultural Programming Producer Andy Trudeau" MNinter.net. Accessed March 21, 2008. The programs aired regularly as the Radio Tales series on the Sirius XM Book Radio channel of Sirius XM Satellite Radio."Program List for Channel SIRIUS XM BOOK RADIO" XMRadio.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. Video games In 2004, Phillips contributed music to her first video game project, God of War. The music of God of War received five Game Audio Network Guild Awards, including Music of the Year."Gamasutra - News - 4th Annual G.A.N.G. Award Winners Announced" Gamasutra.com. Accessed October 18, 2012. She quickly followed this debut with musical scores for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"Game Credits for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" MobyGames.com. Accessed March 21, 2008. and The Da Vinci Code"Game Credits for The Da Vinci Code" MobyGames.com. Accessed March 21, 2008. games, published by 2K Games. After this, Phillips composed the music for the Shrek the Third"Game Credits for Shrek the Third" MobyGames.com. Accessed March 21, 2008. video game for Activision. Phillips' music for the Speed Racer"Speed Racer: The Videogame>Credits" Allgame.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. game for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was named a finalist in the Hollywood Music Awards."WarCry Network: News: Age of Conan Composer Nominated for Prestigious Award" Warcry.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. After creating the music for The Maw XBLA game for Twisted Pixel Games,"EL33TONLINE: News - Exclusive: The Maw Q and A with Twisted Pixel" EL33TONLINE.com. Accessed January 31, 2009. Phillips went on to create the music for two projects for the Maxis division of Electronic Arts: Spore Hero,"Video Game News - Winifred Phillips Discusses Her Score for Spore Hero" Gamezone.com. Accessed December 10, 2009. and SimAnimals."The Sims Label Announces Winifred Phillips as the Composer of the Original Score for SimAnimals" EA.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. Her music for Spore Hero was a finalist for The International Film Music Critics Award"IFMCA: the International Film Music Critics Association >> IFMCA announces its 2009 nominees for scoring excellence" Filmmusiccritics.org. Accessed January 29, 2010. and the Hollywood Music in Media Award."Visual Media Nominees" Hmmawards.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. Phillips won a Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2010 for her music for the Legend of the Guardians"Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (Original Videogame Soundtrack) by Winifred Phillips" iTunes. Accessed October 26, 2010. video game, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Her music for Legend of the Guardians was also a finalist for The International Film Music Critics Award."IFMCA: the International Film Music Critics Association >> IFMCA announces its 2010 nominees for scoring excellence" Filmmusiccritics.org. Accessed October 18, 2012. In 2011, Phillips began creating music for the LittleBigPlanet video game franchise for Media Molecule / Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. To date, she has created music for LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet 2: Cross Controller, LittleBigPlanet 2: Toy Story (DLC), LittleBigPlanet Karting, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita and LittleBigPlanet 3."Game Music Online Unreleased game scores win big at Hollywood Music in Media Awards - Game Music Online" VGMOnline. Accessed November 7, 2014. Phillips wrote the music for the Assassin's Creed III: Liberation video game, published by Ubisoft. The soundtrack album of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation was released by Ubisoft Music on October 30, 2012. Together with music producer Winnie Waldron, Winifred Phillips won several awards for her work on this project. For the music composition of the Assassin's Creed III Liberation video game, Phillips won a Global Music Award for musical excellence. Winifred Phillips and Winnie Waldron won a 2012 Hollywood Music in Media Award and a GameFocus Award for the music score for Assassin's Creed III: Liberation. The main theme music of the Assassin's Creed III: Liberation video game won a G.A.N.G. Award from the Game Audio Network Guild in the category of "Best Original Vocal Song - Choral."' The music of Assassin's Creed III Liberation also received nominations in several year-end award competitions, including the GameZone Awards, the Best of IGN Awards, and the G4TV X-Play Best of 2012 Awards. On November 4, 2014, one of Phillips' tracks for the LittleBigPlanet 3 game, entitled "LittleBigPlanet 3 Ziggurat Theme," won a Hollywood Music in Media Award in the category of "Best Song for a Video Game.""Hollywood Music in Media Awards: 2014 HMMA Winners" HMMAwards. Accessed November 7, 2014. LittleBigPlanet 2 was a 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards finalist in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". LittleBigPlanet 2 was also a 2011 Game Developers Choice Awards finalist in the category of "Best Audio", which recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game - including musical composition, orchestration, sound design, sound effects, etc. The 10th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards nominated the original music track "Victoria's Lab" from LittleBigPlanet 2 in the category of "Best Original Vocal - Pop". Kotaku named the score of LittleBigPlanet 2 as one of the best video game soundtracks of the year. In the article "The Best Game Music of 2011: LittleBigPlanet 2", Features Editor Kirk Hamilton praised both the collection of licensed tracks and the original score, singling out the music of composer Winifred Phillips (and particularly her track "Victoria's Lab") as his favorite original music of the game. Phillips is one of the composers for the Total War Battles: KINGDOM video game, developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega."Total War Battles: Kingdoms (Video Game 2015) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb" IMDb.com. Accessed July 10, 2015. In 2016, Phillips composed music for the Homefront: The Revolution videogame, developed by DS Dambuster and published by Deep Silver."Homefront: The Revolution (Video Game 2016) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb" IMDb.com. Accessed May 31, 2016. Albums Phillips' music has been released in several commercial soundtracks. The LittleBigPlanet 3 soundtrack album was released by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe on January 27, 2015."LittleBigPlanet™3 (Soundtrack) by Various Artists on iTunes" iTunes.com. Accessed September 19, 2015. The soundtrack album for the Assassin's Creed III: Liberation video game was released by Ubisoft Music on the same day as the release of the Assassin's Creed III: Liberation video game, October 30, 2012. On October 26, 2010, the Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole video game soundtrack album was released by WaterTower Music, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment. The second track on the album, "With Hearts Sublime", is a winner of a 2010 Hollywood Music in Media Award in the category "Best Original Song - Video Game"."2010 HMMA Winners" Hmmawards.com. Accessed Nov. 20, 2010. On January 13, 2009, the SimAnimals soundtrack album was released in digital download form by E.A.R.S. EA Recordings. The soundtrack album of the videogame Spore Hero was released by E.A.R.S. EA Recordings on October 6, 2009."Spore Hero - EA Games Soundtrack - Listen free and discover music at Last.fm" Last.fm. Accessed March 9, 2010. In 2007, Phillips worked with her music producer Winnie Waldron to create a cover version of the theme song from the Super Mario Bros. video game for the compilation CD entitled Best of the Best: A Tribute to Game Music, Volume I, initially released by GameMusicCentral,"SoundtrackNet: Best of the Best: A Tribute to Game Music, Volume I Soundtrack" Soundtrack.net. Accessed March 21, 2008. and now distributed by the Sumthing Else Music Works record label."Best of the Best (Collector's Edition" ITunes. Accessed October 18, 2012 In 2012, Associated Production Music released three albums featuring Phillips' music: "Dark Times", "Magical Realms" and "Investigation and Pursuit"."Amazon.com: Winifred Patricia Phillips: MP3 Downloads" Amazon.com. Accessed Sept. 26, 2012. The Directors Cuts label of Extreme Music has released seven albums featuring Phillips' music, including "Epic Themes 3" and "Christmas Fantasy"."Sakura Notes Online Music Library" Sakuranotes.jp. Accessed Sept. 26, 2012. Phillips' music was featured in 2014 on the "Ultimate Trailers" album released by the West One Music Group."Music for Media" WestOneMusic.com. Accessed November 7, 2014. Writing Phillips is the author of the book A Composer’s Guide to Game Music, which was published by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press (The MIT Press) in March 2014."A Composer's Guide to Game Music" Worldcat.org. Accessed August 25, 2014. The book has won a Global Music Award Gold Medal for exceptional achievement in the field of music,"Global Music Awards Winners December 2014" GlobalMusicAwards.com. Accessed December 14, 2014. an Annual Game Music Award in the category of "Publication, Broadcast, or Film,""Game Music Online Annual Game Music Awards 2014 – Organisations of the Year - Game Music Online" vgmonline.net. Accessed February 18, 2015. an Annual National Indie Excellence Book Award,"Indie Excellence Awards: Winners of the 2015 Awards" IndieExcellence.com. Accessed May 18, 2015. and a Nonfiction Book Award from the Nonfiction Authors Association."Book Award Winner: A Composer's Guide to Game Music" NonfictionAuthorsAssociation.com. Accessed July 10, 2015. A Composer’s Guide to Game Music '' was very well received by critics such as Jon Burlingame of The Film Music Society,"FMS Feature - by Jon Burlingame" FilmMusicSociety.org. Accessed November 6, 2014. Sound on Sound Magazine,"A Composer's Guide to Game Music Book Review" SoundonSound.com. Accessed August 25, 2014. Music Connection Magazine,"Book Preview: A Composer's Guide to Game Music" MusicConnection.com. Accessed August 25, 2014. Retro Videogame Magazine,"A Composer's Guide to Game Music Review" ReadRetro.com. Accessed August 25, 2014. and Film Score Monthly."The MIT Press Publishes "A Composer's Guide to Game Music" TheAudioSpotlight.com. Accessed August 25, 2014. On August 26, 2015, O'Reilly Japan published the Japanese language edition of ''A Composer's Guide to Game Music (Japanese title: Game Sound Production Guide - Composer Techniques for Interactive Music)."O'Reilly Japan - Game Sound Production Guide” Oreilly.co.jp. Accessed September 18, 2015. Phillips has also written short stories that have been published in Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine,"The Locus Index to Science Fiction" Locusmag.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. and in the Sword and Sorceress XX anthology."Author Wars: Speculative Fiction Authors & Books Database" Authors.wizards.pro. Accessed March 9, 2010. Awards * Global Music Awards 2015: Best Game Music Composer - Total War Battles: Kingdom"Winners-July-2015" GlobalMusicAwards.com. Accessed May 9, 2016. * Global Music Awards 2015: Best Game Music - Total War Battles: Kingdom"Winners-July-2015" GlobalMusicAwards.com. Accessed May 9, 2016. * Nonfiction Authors Association: Nonfiction Book Award - A Composer's Guide to Game Music"Book Award Winner: A Composer's Guide to Game Music" NonfictionAuthorsAssociation.com. Accessed July 10, 2015. * 9th Annual National Indie Excellence Book Award - A Composer's Guide to Game Music"Indie Excellence Awards: Winners of the 2015 Awards" IndieExcellence.com. Accessed May 18, 2015. * Game Music Online's Annual Game Music Award - A Composer's Guide to Game Music"Game Music Online Annual Game Music Awards 2014 – Organisations of the Year - Game Music Online" vgmonline.net. Accessed February 18, 2015. * Global Music Award 2014: GMA Book Award - A Composer's Guide to Game Music"Global Music Awards Winners December 2014" GlobalMusicAwards.com. Accessed December 14, 2014. * Hollywood Music in Media Award 2014: LittleBigPlanet 3"Hollywood Music in Media Awards: 2014 HMMA Winners" HMMAwards. Accessed November 7, 2014. * Global Music Award 2013: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation * Hollywood Music in Media Award 2012: Assassin's Creed III: Liberation * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2012: Best Original Vocal Song - Choral (Assassin's Creed III: Liberation) * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2012: Best Use of Licensed Music - LittleBigPlanet Karting"G.A.N.G. Awards 2013 Awards" audiogang.org. Accessed August 2, 2015. * GameFocus Award: Best Music - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation * G4TV X-Play's Best of 2012 Award: Best Soundtrack - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (Nomination) * GameZone Awards: Best Original Soundtrack - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (Nomination) * Best of IGN Awards: Best PS Vita Sound - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (Nomination) * 10th Annual Game Audio Network Guild Awards: Best Original Vocal - Pop: "Victoria's Lab" from LittleBigPlanet 2 (Finalist) * 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Award: Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition - LittleBigPlanet 2 (Finalist) * Game Developers Choice Award 2011: Best Audio - LittleBigPlanet 2 (Finalist) * Hollywood Music in Media Award 2010: Best Original Song: Video Game - "With Hearts Sublime" (Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole)"2010 HMMA Winners" Hmmawards.com. Accessed Nov. 20, 2010. * International Film Music Critics Association Awards 2009: Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media - Spore Hero (Nomination) * Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2009: Original Score: Video Game - Spore Hero (Nomination) * Movie Music U.K. Music Awards 2009: Best Score: Game - Spore Hero (Honorable Mention)"Movie Music U.K. Music Awards 2009" Webcache.googleusercontent.com. Accessed Oct. 24, 2010. * Hollywood Music Awards 2008: Original Score: Video Game - Speed Racer: The Videogame (Nomination) * Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Interactive Achievement Award: Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition (God of War)"Video Game News - 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards Winners Announced by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences" GameZone.com. Accessed March 9, 2010. * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2005: Music of the Year (God of War)"4th Annual G.A.N.G. Award Winners Announced" Gamasutra.com. Accessed March 22, 2008. * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2005: Best Interactive Score (God of War) * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2005: Best Cinematic / Cut-Scene Audio (God of War) * Game Audio Network Guild Award 2005: Audio of the Year (God of War) * GameSpot's Best of 2005: Best Original Music (God of War)"GameSpot's Best of 2005 - Special Achievement Awards" GameSpot.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed September 16, 2008. * PAX Gamers: Game of the Year Awards 2005: Best Sound (God of War)"PAX Gamers - GOTY Awards - 2005 Features :: All" PAXgamers.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed September 16, 2008. * IGN PS2 Best Original Score (God of War)"IGN.com presents The Best of 2005" IGN.com. Accessed September 16, 2008. * GameZone 2005 Game of the Year Awards: Best Original Score (God of War)"2005 Game of the Year - Best Games of 2005" GameZone.com. Accessed September 16, 2008. * American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award 2001, 2003, 2004: Best National Network Drama (Radio Tales)"2001 Gracie Allen Award Winners" AWRT.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 22, 2008."NPR Productions Win Gracie Allen Awards" NPR.org. Accessed March 22, 2008."AWRT Press Release" Web.Archive.org. Accessed March 9, 2010. * American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award 1998: Outstanding Achievement by an Actress ("The Yellow Wallpaper")Robin F. Whitten (Editor/Publisher): "AudioFile Magazine Vol. 7 No. 5, Feb / March 1999". AudioFile pg. 8, 1999 * The New York Festivals WorldMedal 2004: (Radio Tales)"2004 Winners, Radio Programming and Promotion, New York Festivals" NewYorkFestivals.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 22, 2008. * Golden Reel Merit Award 2001 (Radio Tales)"NFCB Announces 2001 Golden Reel Award Winners" NFCB.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 22, 2008. * The Audio Publishers Association Audie Award (Nomination)"Largo Library Virtual Reference Desk" TBLC.org. Accessed September 16, 2008. * G4 TV G-Phoria Award Best Original Soundtrack (Nomination)"Gamasutra - G-Phoria 2005 Award Nominees Announced" Gamasutra.com. Accessed September 16, 2008. * Spike TV Video Game Awards Best Original Score (Nomination)"Samuel L. Jackson to Host; The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Vin Diesel, The Rock, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg & Ozzy Osbourne to Appear at Spike TV "Video Game Awards 2005" PRnewswire.com. Accessed September 16, 2008. Works Video games * Assassin's Creed III: Liberation * Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (video game) * The Da Vinci Code (video game) * God of War (video game) * Homefront: The Revolution * Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (video game) * LittleBigPlanet 2 (Victoria's Lab & Eve's Asylum Levels) * LittleBigPlanet 2: Cross Controller * LittleBigPlanet 2: Toy Story (DLC) * LittleBigPlanet 3 * LittleBigPlanet Karting * LittleBigPlanet PS Vita * The Maw (video game) * Shrek the Third (video game) * SimAnimals (video game) * Speed Racer (video game) * Spore Hero (video game) * Total War Battles: KINGDOM The Radio Tales series References External links * Winifred Phillips' Website * Winifred Phillips Video Interview with GameSpot.com Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American composers Category:American composers Category:American radio actresses Category:American radio producers Category:Audiobook narrators Category:Living people Category:Video game composers